


Baby Blues.

by curlypeakism, Miso



Category: Ghostbusters (Movies 1984-1989), Ghostbusters - All Media Types
Genre: Discussion of Abortion, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Post Mpreg, Postpartum Depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 21:40:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6627559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curlypeakism/pseuds/curlypeakism, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miso/pseuds/Miso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>egon and ray deal with the normal motions of being new parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby Blues.

**Author's Note:**

> so this is the end-ish for these short drabbles. but not this for this au! maybe these will get updated sporadically sometimes, but there's something much bigger in the future so no worries!

It was almost a week after the rather dramatic birth of Quark Raymond Egon Spengler-Stantz, and both baby and father(s) were doing okay. A very loose definition of okay, considering Ray was currently sniffling and curled up on the couch in his pajamas with the baby over his shoulder, and Egon half-asleep and nervously watching the scene next to him.

It had been like this since Quark was born. Ray was an emotional wreck, Egon had barely slept, and it seemed like the baby was the only one who was even vaguely alright in the household. “Do you want me to take him for a moment, sunshine?” Egon whispered, careful to keep his voice low in case Quark was, in fact, asleep, and Ray just forgot to bring him down from burping position.

“No,” came the sullen, one word reply. It was hard to get Ray to say much more these days. The doctor said the wild hormonal changes might do that. Which was why Ray’s next statements, much more tear laden, made Egon jump a bit.

“He’s got some kind of exotic baby disease because of that Carpathian yokel that wanted him, and we look like we could play leads in the Night of the Living Dead, Egie!” He declared miserably, looking down at the baby in his arms. “I think it’s safe to say that things couldn’t be any worse.

The knock at the door only prompted Ray to hide his face in his hands. “Answer that, if you want.”

Egon sighed a little. He leaned over and kissed Ray’s forehead gently, almost in an “I understand” way, and then stood and went to the door. He figured any Jehovah’s Witness would be scared away by the sight of him.

Alas, it wasn’t a Jehovah’s Witness.

“Egie!”

“... Mother.”

Katherine took Egon’s face in her hands and pulled him down for a kiss. “Good lord, you feel like you haven’t shaved in weeks!”

“I haven’t.”

“And you look like the waking dead!”

“I think I might be.”

Ray’s distant, “Oh, God” only prompted her to delve deeper into their home, laden with gifts. “Where’s my grandson? And my glowing son-in-law?”

The red-eyed man in question raised his head, and to his credit, managed a grimace. “Hi, Katherine.”

“Oh… oh, my goodness, Ray.” Katherine approached him, concern in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” Back to morose, not-much-to-say postpartum Ray, then. “I don’t know, Katherine.”

She barely heard the reiteration of his statement. She was too busy plucking Quark from Ray’s arms and cooing at him. “Ohhh, my goodness, look at you! You look so much like your daddy!”

“... He has two of those.”

“You, of course, Egon, sweetie!” Katherine cradled the newborn and kissed the top of his head. “Look at all those curls!”

“Ma…”

“Oh, and his nose! I don’t think he got the Spengler nose, did he?”

“Not quite, Ma, but he is only about a week old.”

Ray watched this exchange in silence. And mild confusion that seemed to transcend both pregnancy brain and the postpartum fog he’d been in. Katherine’s attention went to Quark’s mismatched eyes.

“Oh, he’s got Ray’s eyes!”

“Doctor says it might be temporary, along with the hair.” Ray mumbled dryly. “But it might stick around.”

“Oh, I hope it does. It’s just darling!” Katherine cradled Quark in one arm and dug in her bag with the other hand. “Grandma has a special present for you, sweetie…”

Her left hand came up with a stuffed ferret. “Lookie! A little friend for you!”

Quark didn’t show too much interest in it. She almost looked hurt, until Egon muttered, drowsily, “He’s a week old, Mother, he doesn’t show much interest in anything except food.”

Food. Kind of a sore spot. Ray tensed a little and muttered, “Speaking of which, I kind of need to go feed him.” That and get away from his mother-in-law, but he didn’t say as much. “If… if I could have my baby, Katherine…?”

Once the newly branded grandma relinquished the baby, Ray was gone pretty quickly off the scene. She turned and raised an eyebrow at Egon, who only yawned and shook his head.

“It’s not as bad as the doctor said it could be.”

“But he’s not himself!” Katherine protested back. “I don’t care what the putz of a doctor says, it’s not right.”

“...I’ll check on him, ma.”

When he found Ray, he was sitting in the nursery. It almost seemed mocking, the picture of Ray numbly cradling the lump under his shirt against the cheerful monkey and rainforest pictures around him.

“...Did we mess up, Egie?”

“I don’t know how we could have within the first week, Ray,” Egon murmured, pulling a nearby chair close to Ray’s rocking chair and sitting beside him. “How do you mean?”

“Just… did we make a mistake?”

“Sunshine, it’s hard to answer that when I’m not sure what kind of mistake you’re referring to.”

“... In general.” Ray looked almost tearful again. “I mean, just… was Venkman right? Sh-should I not have kept him?”

“You’re worried about that? Venkman was drunk out of his mind and hadn’t eaten. He wasn’t thinking straight. He’s as thrilled as anybody.”

“Yeah. In front of us. A-and then there’s the whole Vigo thing, and the doctor SAYS he’s fine but I don’t really know if he is, and he won’t even nurse half the time, like right now, and-”

It all stopped. Ray fell silent, trembling, and Egon saw tears course down his cheeks. It always broke his heart to see his sunshine this upset. Ray’s words twisted the dagger a little more.

“... M-maybe we should have tried to…”

“Sunshine-”

“I don’t know. Abort it. I don’t know.”

Egon’s jaw dropped. “You- what? Are you regretting-”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Ray sobbed. “I’m just… I’m so tired. I’m sadder than I’ve ever been in my life. Like… it’s cheesy to say it out loud but there’s no other word for it and everything’s so overwhelming…” The crying started fresh. “A-and I don’t know if we can handle this. If I can handle this.”

“...I realize, that not everything about this was ideal conditions. At all. An accident, to be blunt.” Egon said, tracing a finger over the bottoms of Quark’s feet much like he’d done while he was still kicking around inside Ray. “But, we’ve made worse work out. Much worse. Including my mother occasionally.”

That at least, made Ray wipe at his face with a free hand. “Yeah. I guess.”

“And, you know me well enough that going into things without knowing much isn’t my forte. But...we’ll just have to feel this out, as any other pursuit we’ve taken. As scientists and as partners, Raymond.”

And then something Egon hadn’t seen in over a month. A smile. A genuine smile, tearful as it was. “Y-you’re right.” Ray sniffled a little. “We… we just gotta half-ass our way through it like any other first timers, right?”

“Well, half-ass and ask questions we never thought we would ask other human beings.”

“Yeah. S’what I meant. Still a little foggy, you know.” Ray looked down at the bundle under his shirt. “... Still wish he’d just eat. It’s starting to drive me nuts.”

A knock on the nursery door. “Egon, darling? Is everything okay?”

Egon paused, then looked at Ray. “... She might know how to get him to eat.”

“I don’t really want your mother grabbing my chest.”

“Ray.”

“Alright, fine. Just… please don’t let her touch me. I don’t like to be touched when I’m trying to feed him.”

“Come in, mother!”

Katherine leaned gently on the door to open it, and entered the scene. It didn’t take either of them explaining for her to see the problem - the current anyway.

“Is he not latching right?” She asked, almost at a whisper. Ray gave her his usual little nod. Both Egon and Ray tensed as she made a move for the latter, but she only made a minor adjustment to the baby.

A minor adjustment. That was all this was. They could do it.


End file.
